Interlocking glove and handle



Feb. 13,1968 BBFIMNEY 3,368,811

INTERLOCKING GLOVE AND HANDLE Filed April 17, 1962 INVENTOR. BA 5/1. 5. F lN/VEY United States Patent 3,368,811 INTERLOCKING GLOVE AND HANDLE Basil B. Finney, Arlington, Calif., assignor of one-half to Albert G. Pearson, Riverside, Calif. Filed Apr. 17, 1962, Ser. No. 188,218 4 Claims. (Cl. 273-72) The present invention relates to means for enabling a person to grip a handle or control wheel in a secure, non-slip grasp whereby the said handle or control wheel is prevented from slipping, shifting, or turning in the hands of the operator. The primary object of the invention is to provide means for enabling a player to grip the handle of a sporting implement such as a golf club, tennis racket, baseball bat, and the like, or the control wheel of an airplane, automobile or boat, in a non-slip grasp that will permit the player to relax the tension of his grip and concentrate on other details of the game or contest, with full confidence that the handle or control wheel will not slip or shift in the slightest degree from the carefully applied handgrip with which he originally grasped the handle.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for enabling a person to grip a handle or control wheel in a secure, non-slip grasp which is completely unaffected by perspiration or skin oils on the palm of the hand, and which is likewise not affected by moisture due to rainfall or from some other external source.

A further object of the invention is to provide nonslip gripping means of the class described, having the characteristic of affording a tenaciously clinging connection between the players hand and the handle, whereby it is virtually impossible to slide the hand along the length of the handle, or to turn or twist the hand about the axis of the handle, yet at the same time allowing the players hand to be pulled away easily from the handle, either for the purpose of taking a new grip thereon, or for discarding the implement.

Still another object of the invention is to provide means for obtaining a non-slip grip on a handle or control wheel, which is relatively inexpensive, yet at the same time is durable and long-lasting.

These objects are achieved by providing a glove having a patch of fabric material on the palm thereof, which is made with a large number of projecting loops of thread, or the like, which are adapted to be hooked by a large number of hooks projecting from fabric material wrapped around the handle of the implement. This type of interlocking fabric is disclosed in United States lPatents 2,717,- 437 and 3,009,235, and is commercially available under the trademark Velcro, in the form of two cooperating tapes, which are adapted to be sewn to opposite edges of a closure for the purpose of providing a separable fastener. When the two tapes are pressed together face-to-face, thousands of tiny hooks on one of the tapes engage a corresponding number of loops on the other tape, thereby causing the two tapes to cling tightly together. To separate the tapes, all that is required is to grasp the ends of the tapes and pull them apart, which causes the hooks to yield and release the loops.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, the handle of the implement, or the control wheel, is covered with the hook material, while a patch of the loop material is sewn or otherwise secured to the palm of a glove worn by the player or operator. When the player grasps the handle with his gloved hand, the handle and glove cling together in a non-slip engagement by virtue of the interlocking hooks and loops. To separate the gloved hand from the handle, the player has only to pull his hand directly away from the handle.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a glove and handle embodying the principles of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through the palm of the glove and the patch of material attached thereto, taken at 2-2 in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the handle taken at 3-3 in FIGURE 1.

In the drawings, the invention is seen to comprise a glove 10 and handle 12, each of which is faced with sheet material of special character, to be described in detail presently, which has the property of clinging tenaciously together when presed face-to-face. The term handle as used herein, both in the specification and claims, includes any portion of an article or implement that is intended to be grasped in the hands, such as the hand grip of a golf club, tennis racket, baseball bat, fishing pole, archery bow, pistol grip, ski pole, hammer or axe, and other hand-operated devices such as the con; trol wheels of airplanes, automobiles, boats and the like, where it is necessary or desirable that the handle be firmly held in a non-slip grasp.

The handle 12 illustrated herein is the handle of a golf club, having a tubular steel shaft 14. The upper end of the shaft 14 is wrapped in the usual manner with a spiral wrapping 16 of leather or the like. The portion of the handle 12 which is normally grasped by the hand wearing the glove 10 is faced with a cover 18 of one type of sheet material having a large number of booking elements 20 projecting therefrom, which are adapted to cooperate with companionate hooking elements 22 on a patch 24 of another type of sheet material aflixed to the palm 26 of the glove.

The glove 10 is preferably snug-fitting and made of a soft leather such as 'kidskin, and is perforated at 28 to provide ventilation holes. The patch 24 is preferably in the form of a band about 2 inches wide extending across the entire width of the palm 26, to which it is attached around its edges by stitching 30. The patch 24 is additionally secured at its mid-point to the palm 26 of the glove by means of a dab 32 of flexible cement. The patch 24 has a fabric base 34, and secured to this base and projecting outwardly therefrom is a very large number of loops 3 6 of flexible resilient plastic filaments. The loops 36 comprise the hooking elements 22 of the patch 24, and these loops are adapted to be engaged by a large number of very small hooks 38 of flexible resilient plastic fibers, projecting outwardly from a fabric base 40 of the cover 18. The fabric base 40 is cemented to the outside of the spiral wrapping 16 of the handle 12, and the cover 18 may also be in the form of a spiral wrapping as shown in FIGURE 1, or it may be formed as a tubular sleeve. The hooks thus constitute the hooking elements 20 of the cover 18, and the two types of sheet material with their companionate hooking elements 20 and 22 are shown in United States Patents 2,717,437 and 3.009,235.

When that portion of the handle 12 that is faced with the cover 18 is grasped in the hand wearing the glove 1%), the patch 24 is pressed face-to-face with the cover 18, causing the hooks 38 to engage the loops 36 and thereby cause the patch 24 to cling tenaciously to the cover 18. The glove 10 clings so firmly to the handle 12 that it is virtually impossible to slide the glove along the handle or to turn the glove on the axis of the handle. To separate the glove from the handle, the glove may be pulled directly away from the handle, causing the hooks 38 to yield and release the loops 36, or the patch 24 may be peeled away from the cover 18, starting at either end of the 3 patch, and pulling the latter progressively away from the cover 18.

In the preferred form of the invention, the hook material is applied to the surface of the handle 12, and the loop material is used for the patch 24. This arrangement has been found to provide the strongest nonslip grip. However, it is contemplated within the scope of the invention to reverse the above arrangement and use the loop material on the handle and the hook material for the patch 24.

While I have shown and described one particular embodiment of the invention in considerable detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that such details are primarily illustrative, and the invention is not to be construed as restricted to these details, except as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. The combination comprising a handle and a glove adapted to be worn on the hand, the palm of said glove and said handle being faced with two cooperating sheet materials which interlock to bind the said sheet materials securely together when pressed together face-to-face, one of said sheet materials having a large number of hooks of flexible resilient material projecting therefrom, and the other of said sheet materials having a large number of loops of flexible resilient material projecting therefrom, said hooks being operable to hook onto said loops when said materials are pressed together face-to-face and thereby cause said glove to cling tenaciously to said handle in a non-slip connection.

2. The combination comprising a handle and a snugfitting glove adapted to be worn on the hand, a patch of one sheet material attached to the palm of said glove, a cover of another sheet material adhesively attached to said handle, each of said sheet materials having a fabric base with a large number of outwardly projecting hooking elements attached thereto, said hooking elements of said one sheet material attached to said glove comprising loops formed of flexible resilient plastic filaments, and said hooking elements on the other of said sheet materials attached to said handle comprising hooks formed of flexible resilient plastic fibers, said hooks being operable to hook onto said loops when said sheet materials are pressed together face-to-face and cause said glove to cling tenaciously to said handle in a non-slip connection.

3. The combination comprising a glove, at least one portion of a first fabric applied to a part of the surface of the glove, a sporting implement having a handle portion, at least one portion of a second fabric being affixed to the handle portion of said sporting implement which is intended to contact said portion of said first fabric, a multiplicity of members upstanding from the exposed main face of the portion of one of said first and second fabrics, the end portion of each said member remote from the fabric being so formed that the end of the member associated with said end portion is directed in a direction which forms an acute angle with or is parallel to the remaining portion of the member, and a felt constituting the exposed main face of the portion of the other (fabric, whereby the exposed main faces of the exposed portions of the first and second fabrics are positively engageable when forced together.

4. The combination of a handgrip and a glove for use therewith, a first fabric applied to at least one part of the glove surface which will contact the handgrip when the wearer of the glove grips the handgrip, a second fabric affixed to the handgrip, a multiplicity of members upstanding from the exposed face of one of said first and second fabrics, the end portion of each of said members remote from the fabric being reversely :bent whereby a multiplicity of hooks are defined, the other of said fabrics having an exposed face with a plurality of hook-engageable elements, the hooks and the hook-engageable elements of the exposed faces of the first and second fabrics being interlockingly engaged when forced together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,717,437 9/1955 Demestral 2-167 X 2,002,535 5/1935 Gagnier 273-81 2,465,136 3/1949 Troccoli 273-116 X 3,009,235 11/1961 Mestral.

3,032,345 5/ 1962 Lemelson.

3,063,718 11/1962 Steinkamp.

3,081,772 3/1963 Brooks et a1.

461,744 10/1891 Fanshawe 2-160 1,587,082 6/1926 Mattern 273-81 2,774,077 12/1956 Pressler et al. 2-167 3,105,972 10/1963 Christopher 2-161 586,373 7/1897 Walker 273-67 1,558,666 10/ 1925 Brewer, et al. 273-67 2,270,882 1/ 1942 Link 2-159 FOREIGN PATENTS 547,946 9/ 1942 Great Britain.

ANT-ON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Examiner.

G. I. MARLO, Assistant Examiner. 

4. THE COMBINATION OF A HANDGRIP AND A GLOVE FOR USE THEREWITH, A FIRST FABRIC APPLIED TO AT LEAST ONE PART OF THE GLOVE SURFACE WHICH WILL CONTACT THE HANDGRIP WHEN THE WEARER OF THE GLOVE GRIPS THE HANDGRIP, A SECOND FABRIC AFFIXED TO THE HANDGRIP, A MULTIPLICITY OF MEMBERS UPSTANDING FROM THE EXPOSED FACE OF ONE OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND FABRICS, THE END PORTION OF EACH OF SAID MEMBERS REMOTE FROM THE FABRIC BEING REVERSELY BENT WHEREBY A MULTIPLICITY OF HOOKS ARE DEFINED, THE OTHER OF SAID FABRICS HAVING AN EXPOSED FACE WITH A PLURALITY OF HOOK-ENGAGEABLE ELEMENTS, THE HOOKS AND THE HOOK-ENGAGEABLE ELEMENTS OF THE EXPOSED FACES OF THE FIRST AND SECOND FABRICS BEING INTERLOCKINGLY ENGAGED WHEN FORCED TOGETHER. 